Industrial controllers are special-purpose computers utilized for controlling industrial processes, manufacturing equipment, and other factory automation, such as data collection or networked systems. At the core of the industrial control system, is a logic processor such as a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) or PC-based controller. Programmable Logic Controllers for instance, are programmed by systems designers to operate manufacturing processes via user-designed logic programs or user programs. The user programs are stored in memory and generally executed by the PLC in a sequential manner although instruction jumping, looping and interrupt routines, for example, are also common. Associated with the user program are a plurality of memory elements or variables that provide dynamics to PLC operations and programs. Differences in PLCs are typically dependent on the number of Input/Output (I/O) they can process, amount of memory, number and type of instructions, and speed of the PLC central processing unit (CPU).
In recent years, there has been a growing need to integrate industrial control systems across a plurality of different types of networks. One popular network that is now common in industrial environments is Ethernet. This network is often applied at medium or higher levels of a business network where components such as bridges, routers or other types of modules supply connectivity and communications to lower control networks in the factory. Due to the limited number of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses in the Ethernet IPV4 protocol, most industrial Ethernet interfaces only support a single IP address and use some other means to address interfaces within the industrial system. This usually requires a client system to support multiple addressing modes to select a single device, interface or object which adds complexity and cost to the overall system.